Very nice! Did you attach the top to the house? I can't really tell from the pics.

Thanks, The website where my photo's are stored, automatically compress the photo's if they're big, which distorts them a little but yeah, the 3 pairs of (rafters?) are directly attached to the facial board on the porch, which I thought was necessary for structural reasons, it's all very solid that way.

Wisteria can get downright viscious. I'd hate to see it tear down your hard work.

How about confederate jasmine? Perfect for Alabama, in my opinion!

hi, new to this site on garden web have,nt looked around in a while , very nice work .made a big difference in the look of your house .and answered a question of what that would look like on the back of my deck ....thanks.
the plants I would be careful with I have a 4x10 arbor in front of my home and 3 roses on it and they ate it but not completely I also have 2 17 foot steel towers in my back with silver lace vine on them and this stuff acts like it could eat my house if it got away nice work thanks for the pics Rick in wichita

I LOVE your pergola and wish I had a porch like that at my house. It's really beautiful.

Just want to say that I love your porch. Wow, a big porch AND a basement? How lucky you are.

that is very nice porch!

Great looking pergola! But I second on rethinking the wisteria. It will eat your house here in the south, and the constant maintence you'll be doing once it gets established to keep it "tamed". I think you'll regret planting it in about 5 yrs. What about a thornless og rose, or the jasmine as was mentioned being you'll have foot traffic here. Surely there something else here in the south that you can find that appeals to you. Just my 2 cents. trudyjean

They are right about the wisteria. There is a seemingly less aggressive variety called Evergreen Wisteria, but maybe someone will chime in on whether it is (less aggressive) or not.

In the rose category, might I suggest a few. The bourbon climber rose called Zepherine Drouhin is thornless and smells good. Since I have problems with making decisions, I would probably put in the Jasmine AND the rose. That way you have more flowers, more of the time.

If you do not care about smell, would put in Climbing Pinkie, which will cover your arbor. The Zepherine would not be as large. There are other climbers, like Henri Barruet, which would be very pliable, and thornless, and have one outrageous blooming in the spring.

BTW Very Nice pergola, and so different to have it built into the stairs.

Absolutely beautiful. You did a terrific job!

Just beautiful and such a wonderful addition to your home! I can "see" it with a Lady Bank's rose on it. They are beautiful and hardy. They come in white or yellow. One has thorns and the other doesn't, but I can't remember which is which.

Very nice! I had one that I had built that is much more simple. Boy those cuts on the end make a difference!

Thanks for all the complements. I cant sleep and I still haven't decided what to plant so I guess I'll post a little about this.

The building here (now my home) was a church built in the 20's in a rural area that, thanks to "urban sprawl", isn't so rural any more. It was built by The Ladies Garden Club who wanted a place to have community functions but was soon converted to a church and then later to a community center where people voted and had various gatherings, even weddings. By the time I bought the place, it was very neglected and run down and is an ongoing construction project.. myabe I'll finish it one day but then what would I do?

The interior is basically one large room with a large stage, a separate kitchen and bathroom and a entrance area. It has old pine floors and beaded wood here and there and 12 foot ceilings, which I love.

Anyway, the original stairs leading out of the back door were rickety and ugly. There wasn't a back porch at all, just stairs from the back door. So the first thing I did was build the porch and if I had planed it a little better, I would have excavated out under it a little, poured a foundation and made a great room for something (laundry, storage or whatever). I can still work on that later but it will be a little harder now that the pier foundations are in. I do want to do that one day. The clearance under the porch now is about 5 1/2 feet so I can use it now as long as I duck my head a little. I'm going to make some lattice panels and paint them white for the openings under the porch and stairs.

As far as what I want to plant...I can not make my mind up. I think I'm now leaning to some type of climbing rose. I like Jasmine a lot but I think it attaches itself to whatever it's growing on and would eventually scar my paint job. I know whatever I plant is likely to but something that Jasmine imbeds it's root (things) into the wood and might cause some ugly places. Then there's Wisteria, which I would love to plant, but do not want to constantly prune it to keep it off the roof and other places. So I guess it will be some type of climbing rose.

I guess I might re-post the photo's and request for advice in the "rose" section and see what people suggest for my area and needs. I realized "Garden Accoutrements" wasn't the Ideal place to post my question but I was sort of new.

And again thanks for the complements because I built this as I went with no real plans so I was afraid I would end up with something less than I would like but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

OK, I'm gona try to get some sleep... :")

Beautiful, absolutely. How I would love to have one! Actually, I have a huge deck (24'x24') that is awful during the summer. Way too hot and sunny to enjoy during the day. I'm just stubborn and don't want a couple of posts in the middle of the deck. So they tell me, 24' is too much of a span without a support post.
Anyway, how about some bouganvilla? Is it hardy in your zone? My BF's mother has some in Lafayette LA. It is so beautiful. Any clematis survive down there? A couple of those would be nice. My sweet autumn is still green here! Sorry, guess I don't know enough about your zone to even try to give you suggestions. But. . . love your pergola!

I live in SC and have also had 'experiences' with invasive vines. My suggestion would be clematis. It is a very passive resident in the garden. I am not sure about the environment that it likes though. I have been told it likes to keep its feet (roots) in the shade and its head in the sun. I have not tried it in my own garden yet but plan to next year.

Have you thought about an annual? Cypress Vine would be heavenly; I can just see the crisp white details of your you handiwork peeking out from under that light, ferny looking foilage, and those sweet little red blossoms. The whole thing can be pulled off easily without damaging the paint or the woodwork when it dies. It reseeds well too, but I've never known it to be invasive like some Morning Glories.

Love the pergola!!!

Love this pergola. Very origional.

I would agree with Txgardenlady, plant a Climbing Pinkie on that thing. It will bloom almost all year, really prolific, and almost thornless.

With the rose I would plant a vine called Shell Pea Vine. It is lovely, royal blue flowers, gorgeous with the pink rose.

Janie

Warren8-
I think you would have made the Lady's Garden Club very proud! Your pergola truly looks like it would have been original to your home...and the double stairway is something that also would have been seen in homes of those days. Great craftsmanship! I think a climbing rose would be the perfect compliment to this entry way. You might even add a small painted wooden oval plaque with "Dedicated to the Lady's Garden Club" and edged in painted roses as a small ornament on or near it...just an added touch to tie into the history of the house.
Thanks for sharing this with us..
Woodsy

That's lovely!
...and I love your 'Friendship Stairs'!!!

Hi.
Were in the middle of building a VERY simular pergola in our front yard on a large scale. Must say yours is very very lovey. Great craftmanship. Seeing yours has me all the more excited to see mine finished. You know how it is. Can't have only ONE project going. No. Have to have 10 OR 20 going at the same time hahahahah but hea. It's summer :)

I have Akebia on my pergola. Had wisteria but got tired of the mess. dropping leaves, seed pods all the time. Marie

If you haven't planted it yet, how about a honeysuckle vine?

It's been 10 years since your post. How is your pergola holding up? Did you plant an evergreen?
Is this forum still active?

Very beautiful!

I have been fortunate to find grafted Wisteria in some plant and flower catelogs. Various Chinese or Japanese (for their wonderous fragance) grafted on to root stock of American Wisteria. The American version is much more tame and tidy, not send out runners all over.